About the Chinese colony name.

[Infinityplastic]

After korean colony name 'hoju' & 'miju' were added into the game, I think chinese colony name can also be added by this chance. 'Ming Australia' or 'Qing California' looks really strange.
I understand you guys may not have a clue on designing a fictitious set of names from other cultures. So, this is one of my solutions, which might help you in your design.

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From classic books:
①Fang'zhang(方丈), Peng'lai(蓬莱), Ying'zhou(瀛洲)
Three isles from the ancient Chinese book《Shan Hai Jing》 (山海经, Literal 'book of mountains and oceans'), can be used in naming Australia colony or Caribbean colony.
②Ju'lu(俱芦), Sheng'shen(胜神), Shan'bu(赡部), Niu'huo(牛货)
Names of four continents in the Buddhist Book《Agama》, translated from Sanskrit into Chinese. 'Land of north/east/south/west'. This concept appeared in the chinese novel 《Journey to the West》(西游记) The main character Sun Wukong(孙悟空) was born in the Shengshen continent, he is the prototype of Goku in the anime Dragonball.
These names can be used to name colonies located in the north, east, south and west. (e.g: Ming Alaska=Julu, Ming Australia= Shanbu, Ming Argentina=Niuhuo)

Named by natural features:
Place names around the world are often named after local natural features. We just need to translate the original place name into Hanyu-pinyin. Here are some examples：
①Brazil=Land of brasilwood='place of red wood'=红林/赤木(Red Forest, Red wood) =Hong'lin/Chi'mu
②Alaska→Anchorage='place suitable for anchoring'=冰港/霜港(Ice Port, Frost port) =Bing'gang/Shuang'gang
③Colombia→Panama='place of many fish'=鱼州(Place of fish)/鲁南('Fish in a pot'+South)=Yu'zhou/Lu'nan
If you

Fantasy place names:
If Chinese landed in the New World, they might have named a region in relation to their own history, just as the Europeans did.
①Dong'yin, Dong'fan, Yin'min, An'dong (东殷、东番、殷民、安东)
Chinese people often see people far from Central Kingdom as barbarians waiting to be enlightened. When the Chinese army conquered a border area, the local capital was often named with words meaning "education, enlightenment, pacification". (e.g: Zhen'nan, Xuan'wei, An'xi)
Imagine a Chinese expeditionary force conquering the Aztec Empire, and they would likely associate the local practice of fervent human sacrifice with the Shang dynasty (B.C1600 ~ B.C1046). So, they speculated that the Nahuatl people might be the descendants of the Shang Dynasty and named the Mexican region "Dong'yin"(东殷, literal 'East Yin', Yin is the capital of Shang Dynasty).
②(New)Ji, Yu, Xu, Yan, Qing, Yang, Jing, Liang, Yong (冀 豫 徐 兖 青 扬 荆 梁 雍)
In the Han dynasty, the reference of the concept of 'Nine Provinces' is to the entire China. Just as the Europeans named the land "New Spain", "New Granada" and "New York", the Chinese who pioneered the New World may also use these traditional place names to name the New World. And it's a little more reasonable than 'New yang'zhou' or 'City of qi'zhen', the latter sounds a little strange to Chinese people.

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Many Chinese EU4 players are happy to help you guys working on the place name. And if you think give the dynamic place names of the entire new world to China sounds a bit of exaggeration, at least give every colony of China a reasonable name, I really don't want to see 'Qing Louisiana' anymore.

 

[Sithodox2286]

Sounds pretty cool! All cultures should get a set of unique colony names as a flavour feature. At least, maybe, those main cultures with their major TAG being focused in the upcoming updates.

 

[Cccc_]

Great idea!

 

[Cons_030]

Maybe making every culture sphere have its own colony name list sounds impossible, but let some main culture spheres such as china india or arab get their own ones first can be a nice try!

 

[FishieFan]

Why does ming Australia or qing california look any worse than completely made up transliterations?

 

[Cccc_]

Why does ming Australia or qing california look any worse than completely made up transliterations?

 

[FishieFan]

View attachment 940087

Again why is that any worse than naming colonial mexico as East Yin, will indian cultures call mexico New Nagaland too?

 

[I Couldn't Decide]

Why does ming Australia or qing california look any worse than completely made up transliterations?

Because these are very European names (the second part): As @Cccc_ said, Australia comes from Latin, a language that the Chinese are hardly likely to use when naming anything (or at all, really). California is even worse, since that comes from a 16th century Spanish novel; the Chinese probably wouldn't have even known of that name. X Canada, Alaska, Mexico, and Peru are better (they're derived from native terms), X Caribbean is so-so (the term is from a tribe in the area), X Colombia and Louisiana are as bad as California (both are named after important Europeans, who aren't even guaranteed to exist in the game), and the Eastern America region doesn't even get an X Region format, but Delaware, Florida, and Virginia are generic, so we'll count those (Delaware after an English noble, Florida means flowery in Spanish (roughly), and Virginia is from Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen).

TL;DR: Same reason there won't be a Fusang state, USA.

 

[FishieFan]

Because these are very European names (the second part): As @Cccc_ said, Australia comes from Latin, a language that the Chinese are hardly likely to use when naming anything (or at all, really). California is even worse, since that comes from a 16th century Spanish novel; the Chinese probably wouldn't have even known of that name. X Canada, Alaska, Mexico, and Peru are better (they're derived from native terms), X Caribbean is so-so (the term is from a tribe in the area), X Colombia and Louisiana are as bad as California (both are named after important Europeans, who aren't even guaranteed to exist in the game), and the Eastern America region doesn't even get an X Region format, but Delaware, Florida, and Virginia are generic, so we'll count those (Delaware after an English noble, Florida means flowery in Spanish (roughly), and Virginia is from Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen).

TL;DR: Same reason there won't be a Fusang state, USA.

They are very European names, but if you start making language appropriate names, you now need to make default names for colonial nations of all the varied languages of the map, as with all flavour changes. Or you can just let the player use customise subject to rename them for themselves.

Rotw colonising America falls into issue of not just funky names but also the colonial regions being based off European borders for them, with some more sub divided than others

 

[Cccc_]

They are very European names, but if you start making language appropriate names, you now need to make default names for colonial nations of all the varied languages of the map, as with all flavour changes. Or you can just let the player use customise subject to rename them for themselves.

Rotw colonising America falls into issue of not just funky names but also the colonial regions being based off European borders for them, with some more sub divided than others

Although the borders of colonial regions have been defined in the game, naming the colony after classic books, natural features or Fantasy place names is widely used in a mod called Celestial empire on which the sun never sets(or 东亚·天朝日不落 in Chinese) which recieved high opinion on it.

(Btw the mod has no English version for now)

Now that there are ideas from community, why not start making language appropriate names?Or what's worse than "Ming California"?

 

[FishieFan]

Although the borders of colonial regions have been defined in the game, naming the colony after classic books, natural features or Fantasy place names is widely used in a mod called Celestial empire on which the sun never sets(or 东亚·天朝日不落 in Chinese) which recieved high opinion on it.

(Btw the mod has no English version for now)

Now that there are ideas from community, why not start making language appropriate names?Or what's worse than "Ming California"?

Because eu4 pretends to be a historical name so fantasy names are out of place, a chinese mod being popular in China doesnt mean itll be popular for everyone else

 

[I Couldn't Decide]

Because eu4 pretends to be a historical name so fantasy names are out of place

This is an alternate history game; there should be names that just aren't historical (like East Asian/African colonial names). And BTW, California is a fantasy name (it was described as an island of muslim Amazons with griffins in the book). Modern fantasy names are out of place (no Middle Earth), but names like Atlantis, Elysium, Fusang, Arcadia, Samavasarana, Ketumati, Avalon, Emain Ablach, Cockaigne, Karshvar, Mahoroba, and Westernesse are hardly implausible (though some are more likely than others).

 

[zhangjim]

The simplest way is to find out in the history book what China used to call various regions of the Americas/Australia.
For example, Chinese miners call San Francisco "Old Golden Mountain" and Melbourne "New Golden Mountain".
Similarly, Vancouver in Canada is known as the "Saltwater Port", while Honolulu is known as the "Sandalwood Mountain"
So there is no need to make the naming of the colony too artistic. It can be named based on the Chinese pronunciation of the main local natural resources.
However, there is an interesting topic here. They discussed the naming methods of various regions in the Americas with great enthusiasm：
https://www.zhihu.com/question/372855077

 

[I Couldn't Decide]

For example, Chinese miners call San Francisco "Old Golden Mountain"

The California Gold Rush didn't happen until the 1850s. Makes sense if gold's found there, but what should it be called if it's not?

 

[zhangjim]

The California Gold Rush didn't happen until the 1850s. Makes sense if gold's found there, but what should it be called if it's not?

I haven't considered this problem for the time being, but the gold mine will be discovered sooner or later.
Here is an idea based on naming habits in Chinese history：

https://www.zhihu.com/question/372855077/answer/1051544646

Here is an idea put forward by one person based on the naming habits in Chinese history: the closer we are to modern times, the more accustomed we are to choose transliteration and rewriting of Chinese characters.
In particular, the management of indigenous people should be considered, so it is likely to choose the name of indigenous tribes.

This answer provides some translation of place names based on the Quechua.

如果美洲被中国发现并由中国命名，美洲的地名会叫什么？ - 知乎

以克丘亚语为例——安第斯山，Anti urqu → 東山的的喀喀湖，Titi Qaqa qucha → 铅岩湖阿马鲁河（亚马逊…

www.zhihu.com

 

[DoctorKartoffel]

sounds like a great idea!

 

[Infinityplastic]

Because eu4 pretends to be a historical name so fantasy names are out of place, a chinese mod being popular in China doesnt mean itll be popular for everyone else

In the history Sweden and Danmark never controlled Canada, but the mission tree gives them special name 'Vinland', free colonist, and even the entire claim of 3 colony area.

That's cool.

 

[FishieFan]

In the history Sweden and Danmark never controlled Canada, but the mission tree gives them special name 'Vinland', free colonist, and even the entire claim of 3 colony area.

That's cool.

Yes, that's also bad

 

[Sithodox2286]

Yes, that's also bad

Why not both? Especially when they make “Supreme Shogunate” a thing in the latest version.

 

[FishieFan]

Why not both? Especially when they make “Supreme Shogunate” a thing in the latest version.

Because the breaks should go on sometime